Last One Standing
by Paintdripps
Summary: There are no winners of this game. There are no survivors. The monsters are everywhere-and THEY can't die. Who will be the last one standing? Warning: intense violence and death in later chapters. Will up rating if needed.
1. Chapter 1

**OMG! Look, I started another story without finishing my others! How unusual! **

**I am sooooo sorry for not updating. I blame school. (Don't we all?) **

**So I was watching Young Justice… and I got an idea for this. Amazing, right? **

**Anyway, this is rated T for now… unless you guys think I should raise the rating. **

**A warning: if graphic blood, violence, and major character death(s) (AND YES, PLURAL) bother you, turn back now. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO/HoO. I do not own Greek/Roman mythology. And I most certainly do not own the Wolf House—that's Jack London's.**

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><p>First, there was nothing.<p>

And then Percy was just _there_. He couldn't explain it; he just suddenly materialized in the battlefield, surrounded by monsters of every kind.

Dracenae and empousai and Earthborn and even Lycaon's wolves were swarming him. Percy screamed as one of the wolves sank its teeth in his leg. He felt around in his pocket and pulled out Riptide. The three-foot-long bronze blade sprang to life in his hands.

"PERCY!" A girl's terse voice shouted.

Percy whirled around, momentarily distracted. A dracenae got a hit in and slashed a rip in his shirt.

Then he saw electric blue-eyed Thalia, shooting down wolves with silver arrows. At first he wondered why she was only targeting the wolves. Then he realized it was because not many of them had silver weapons, and she knew she had to use them on the monsters that could only be killed by silver.

"Get out of there!" Thalia yelled. "You'll be overwhelmed!"

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!"

"Is this really the time?"

Percy cursed under his breath, fighting his way through the sea of monsters to Thalia.

"Got a plan, Pinecone Face?" Percy hollered.

"Yeah. Regroup with the rest of them!" Thalia notched another arrow and aimed at a particularly large sandy-colored wolf. She let it fly in a graceful arc.

Percy turned to watch the wolf disintegrate. It never happened. The wolf merely howled and continued walking. As he watched, the smoking wound left by the arrow closed up.

"They're not dying!" Percy exclaimed.

"No duh! Didn't you and Hazel and Frank already free Death?"

"Well, apparently he's on coffee break!"

Percy finally made it to the rock Thalia was standing on. He clambered up, out of breath and bleeding.

"What now?" Percy asked.

Thalia stood up from her kneeling position and strapped her bow back on her back. "We run like the whole of Tartarus is chasing us."

"Actually, it seems like it is."

"Shut up, Jackson."

Percy peered into Thalia's blue orbs, and realized that she was just as scared and confused as he was. Thalia just covered that up by being terse and sarcastic.

Something was descending on them. Percy squinted.

"It's Reyna!" he cried delightedly. The raven-haired girl was riding on Skippy, shouting defiantly and throwing things at monsters below. Were they… rocks?

As Percy watched, the rock-looking things exploded, burning nearby monsters. Reyna and Skippy flew closer until they were directly above Thalia and him.

"Hop on!" Reyna screamed.

Percy heard snatches of Skippy's thoughts. Skippy was impatient to get going, apparently, but the use of certain words were not entirely necessary.

Percy jumped onto Skippy's back. He turned to Thalia. "What are you waiting for?"

"I CAN'T!" Thalia's eyes were huge with terror.

Reyna grabbed Thalia and hoisted her up. "Hang on tight," she advised the frozen daughter of Zeus.

Thalia screamed as Skippy suddenly zoomed upwards and away from the monsters. "WHY ARE YOU _ DOING THIS TO ME, YOU _s? GET ME DOWN FROM THIS _ HORSE RIGHT NOW, YOU _ HEAR ME?"

* * *

><p>"Impressive vocabulary," he heard Reyna say once they landed.<p>

"I try," Thalia said hoarsely. Her face was pasty white. Her freckles stood out on the bridge of her nose. Percy hadn't ever really noticed them so much before.

Reyna jumped off Skippy, who was cursing about having to dodge flaming arrows while having a screaming girl on his back. Skippy had an even better vocabulary than Thalia, it seemed to Percy. What was it with Roman horses and cussing?

"PERCY!" He heard Annabeth's voice scream. "Where were you?"

"I was a bit… busy." He jumped off too and was immediately crushed by Annabeth.

Thalia slid off Skippy shakily. "Never do that to me again."

"I'm not making any promises," Percy teased.

"Not funny."

"Where's Jason?" Reyna asked suddenly.

"Uh… around," Annabeth waved her arm vaguely.

"Gee, thanks," Reyna responded before running off.

"Wow. Jason must have a big ego," Percy remarked to Annabeth.

"How so?"

"It would give any guy a big ego if they found out a girl like Reyna was asking after them."

Annabeth glared at him.

"What?"

"What about a girl like me?" Annabeth asked.

Percy pretended to think for a minute. "Hmm, well…"

Annabeth slugged him in the arm.

"Sheesh! I was just kidding!"

She waited.

"Well, you're the reason why I have such a big head," Percy said. "It's full of hot air… maybe I should try flying sometime!"

She grinned. "You're stupid."

"Why, thank you." Percy bowed flamboyantly.

* * *

><p>Reyna walked among the midst of chaos. The legionnaires had set up a sort of camp, you could say, in the past hour, and were organizing people on sentry duty patrols.<p>

_But where in the world was Jason Grace?_

"Any casualties?" Reyna asked Centurion Frank.

Frank shook his head. "Not that we know of, so far."

"Were the Greeks accounted for?"

Frank thought about it. "I… I'm not sure."

"Who was taking account?" Reyna barked.

"Octavian."

"Well, then of course the Greeks weren't accounted for," Reyna growled harshly. "Why don't you do a head count for them?"

"Oh—okay." Frank scurried off.

Reyna sighed heavily and continued walking. Sometimes being praetor just downright _sucked._

And guess where she found the son of Jupiter?

That's right. With a certain _daughter of Venus_—sorry, _Aphrodite_.

Piper was cracking up at something funny that Jason had apparently said. Jason was grinning, as though this weren't war and he was just chilling out with her.

"Hello," Reyna said pleasantly, coming to a halt.

"Hi," Piper said back, waving. Her smile faded instantly. For a daughter of Venus—Reyna was sick of using the Greek names—she sure sucked at hiding her emotions.

"_So _sorry to interrupt you two," Reyna said through a fake grin, "but I kind of need Jason with the _Graeci _and Hunters. We're sort of kind of maybe trying to do something that might be just a _teensy _bit—just a smidgeon—more important than… whatever incredibly super-duper uber-uber-UBER important thing you were doing."

"Is 'uber' even a word?" Piper inquired.

Reyna ignored her. "So, Jason, are you coming to talk strategy with the big kids, or do you want to hang around playing hide 'n' seek with Miss McLean here?"

Jason snorted. "Do I have a choice? No. I'm coming." He cast Piper a look that said, _Sorry, I have no idea what her deal is._

"Come on." Reyna grabbed him by the shirt collar and started dragging him back to where Thalia and Percy and Annabeth were.

"What's wrong with you?" hissed Jason in her ear. "And let go of me, I'm perfectly capable of walking."

Reyna released his shirt collar. "No comment."

"You owe me an explanation, at least."

"You have _duties_, Jason. We all do. Trust me, I wish it were different, but that's how it is."

"_Duty _doesn't involve excessive use of sarcasm and a plastic grin," Jason said sourly.

"You know what I think?" Reyna snapped.

"I know what _I _think." He smirked. "_I _think you like me, and you're too stubborn to admit it."

"You're a conceited, useless, stupid PRETTY BOY with no personality!" yelled Reyna. "What would I like about THAT?"

"Strike that," Jason said, his smirk widening. "I think you're head-over-heels in love with me."

Reyna stomped her foot. "Would you SHUT UP for one second?"

Jason finally went silent.

"Listen, Grace," she said in a low voice. "This is WAR. Some of us are going to die today."

"Hopefully not me," he interjected.

She glared mutinously at him. "I'm not sure I second that right now. Now, can I finish?"

"Yes, you may," Jason said haughtily.

She ignored his stupid grin. "Today might be your last day alive. It might be my last day alive."

"Your point?"

Reyna took in a deep breath. "I think that if today's all we got, we'd better make the best of it." She looked up at him.

What came next was completely unexpected.

* * *

><p>Thalia didn't mean to walk in on her little brother during such a bad moment. But then again, Annabeth and Percy had been wondering what was taking so long.<p>

"You should go check," Percy told her.

"Why me?" Thalia asked.

Annabeth sighed and said, "Well, if there's a problem, Reyna wouldn't listen to me."

It was true; Reyna didn't exactly get along well with Annabeth, especially after she'd wrecked her home twice (first time: the island, second time: burning down the principia, but that's another story).

"Or me," Percy admitted. Even though Reyna and Percy were of equal rank in the Roman camp, Reyna still didn't exactly listen to Percy either.

"So it's gotta be me," Thalia said resignedly. "Fine."

Then she'd set off in search of Reyna.

When she found her, she'd also found Jason.

Reyna had her foot planted on his chest, and he was flat on his back lying on the ground.

"Say sorry!" Reyna shouted.

"I'm—not!" Jason puffed, trying uselessly to stand back up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Thalia yelled. "What the Hades is going on here?"

"Stop using my dad's name as a cuss word!" a boy's voice shouted crossly.

Thalia turned to see Nico DiAngelo.

"Glad you could make it to the party, Dead Boy," she said. "Now, uh, help me break this up!"

Nico hung back. "I dunno," he said, with a slight smile on his lips. "They look pretty cozy to me."

"That's my little brother, bonehead!" Thalia shook her head. "Never mind, I'll do it myself."

"Say you're sorry!" Reyna screamed again.

"I'm—not—sorry!"

"Reyna," Thalia said.

The dark-haired girl didn't move her gaze from Jason. "What?" she snapped.

"Can you, like, let my little brother go?"

"Make him apologize, first," Reyna growled.

Thalia sighed. "What did you do this time, Jason?"

Jason stayed silent sullenly and stopped wriggling. He lay there, panting.

"He tried to kiss me," Reyna informed her.

"You what?" Thalia raised an eyebrow.

"She likes me," Jason said from the ground.

Reyna ground her heel into his ribs and he squeaked. "Do not!"

"You're just saying that!"

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Okay, that's enough, Reyna. Percy and Annabeth were wondering what happened to you two. Now, let's get going—we've got a war to plan!"

At the mention of war, all the fire seemed to deflate from Reyna. "Right," she muttered. "War." She stepped off of Jason, looking tired and… old.

Jason coughed and stood up, brushing dirt from his shirt. "Great. More death."

Nico eyed him. "That's not something to joke about."

"Don't I know it."

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><p><strong>Well, that's all for now. I'll start on the next chapter, but... let's see. What would be awesome is if I got at least seven reviews for this chapter. If you can take the time to Story Alert it or Favorite it, you can take the time to write a quick review! <strong>

**Anyway, thanks. Till next time! **


	2. Chapter 2

**So thanks to Greeks Drool – Romans Rule for reminding me that this story needed updating. Really, I've been so out of the Fanfiction loop lately… . **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nothing at all.**

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><p>Thalia sighed and shook her head as she hiked back to the main camp, Jason, Reyna, and Nico in tow.<p>

Jason and Reyna were stubbornly ignoring each other, only making sharp comments to Nico to break their silence.

"My gods, Nico," Jason groaned. "You don't know how… _annoying_ it is to be around _Reyna_."

"Nico," Reyna said in a falsely bright voice, "is someone talking? I thought I heard something."

"Nico," Jason put in, "isn't it pathetic when people pretend not to hear each other?"

Nico screamed, finally at his breaking point for tolerance. "Holy Zeus, you two are annoying the Tartarus out of me! Just SHUT UP! Ignoring each other is not going to do ANYTHING, you hear me? We are in the middle of a WAR, and you two are in the middle of a big hissy fit! I'm THIRTEEN, and I'm being more mature than you sixteen-year-olds!"

Thalia seconded him. "Exactly! What are you two thinking?"

"We're here," Reyna said, not answering the question.

Thalia exchanged a look with Nico. They both knew that things weren't going well.

"Finally," Annabeth shouted. "What took you guys so long?"

"We ran into technical difficulties," Nico explained.

Annabeth looked to Thalia for confirmation. The blue-eyed daughter of Zeus only shrugged.

"Well," Percy said, "we'd better get this war council started. So, does anyone know how to start a war council?"

Jason looked at him incredulously. "You're kidding, right? Weren't you the leader of the demigods during the Titan War?"

"Yeah, um, about that… we never really had an actual _war council_. Mostly we just had pep talks and, um, 'Do your best and don't die!' talks."

"Genius," Reyna snorted. "Okay, guys—Do your best and don't die!"

"Was she joking?" Nico asked. "Did Reyna, Miss Strong-and-Silent, just crack a joke?"

"I think so," Percy stage-whispered.

"Shut up, you two," Annabeth broke in. "What's our strategy?"

Reyna opened her mouth to answer just as an arrow whistled past her ear and embedded itself in a tree behind her. She screamed and pulled out a knife from her belt, held it at the ready.

"Forget strategy!" Jason shouted. "Just arm yourself and FIGHT!"

"I'm game for that," Percy said, drawing Riptide.

Jason cursed and pulled out the golden _gladius_ that Hera/Juno had given him to replace his coin. He charged, screaming, "FORGET STRATEGY! JUST FIGHT TO THE DEATH AND WE MIGHT WIN THIS, EVERYBODY!"

Nico drew his Stygian iron blade. "Damn! How'd they get here so fast?"

Annabeth's eyes scanned the direction from where the arrow had come. "Are we sure there's any more?"

"The seven!" Reyna screamed. "Annabeth! You, Percy, Jason—and all the others! We need to get you guys to safety!"

"I don't need protecting!" Annabeth objected.

"No! This is Gaea's army! We kill Gaea, we win! We need to get you guys to find her and kill her!"

"She's right!" Percy yelled, sea green eyes widening in understanding. "It's like a video game! You kill the boss, the game's over!"  
>"Crap, where are the others?" demanded Nico.<p>

Almost in response, Hazel came running over. "We're under attack!"

"No kidding!" hollered Thalia. "Where's Frank and Leo and Piper?"

"I know where Piper is," Reyna snapped. "As much as I hate to admit it, we need her and Leo here!"

"Frank…" Hazel whirled around. "He was right behind me!"  
>"Found him!" Percy said. He pointed to where Jason was battling with a crowd of dracenae. Frank was there too, shifting shape and stabbing away with his spear.<p>

"FRANK!" screamed Annabeth. "Get over here! Jason, you too!"

"I'm—kind—of—busy!" grunted Jason.

Reyna shrieked something in Latin and clapped her hands, then pointed at the monsters surrounding Jason and Frank.

Flames erupted, charring the monsters, but not completely stopping them. Just distracting them enough for the demigods to escape.

"Run!" Reyna ordered hoarsely. She sank to her knees.

"What was that?" Thalia asked.

"Magic… Circe's island. I would have been a fool not to pick up a few spells for when I needed them…" Reyna breathed out heavily. She coughed a laugh. "As it is, I probably won't be able to do that again for a while."

"On your feet!" Frank said. "Reyna, we need you!"

She drew in a sharp breath and stood back up shakily. "Right. We need to get Leo and Piper, then try to find wherever Gaea is."

"We can't kill Gaea," Hazel said. "She's immortal! She's even more powerful than the gods!"

"We need to force her back to sleep," Annabeth barked. "We do that, we just might make it out of here alive."

"But the monsters can't die," argued Hazel.

"No," Annabeth agreed regretfully, "they can't. But we can."

"I hate my life," moaned Frank.

"Whatever. We need to get Leo and Piper," Annabeth said.

"I saw Leo over there before…" Frank gestured vaguely.

They heard a loud growl, and then saw a column of fire burst to life on the horizon. Screams and hisses of monsters erupted.

"Reyna? That wasn't you, was it?" Percy asked tentatively.

"No…"

"Leo," Thalia said.

* * *

><p>"OH HELL YEAH, BABY! THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR MESSING WITH ME!"<p>

Leo was surrounded by leaping flames. They blazed brightly and kept the monsters back. A few of them had been burned pretty badly, but of course none were dead yet.

"Oh? You want a piece of me?" he taunted. Sweat dripped down the back of his neck. He hated to admit it, but he was running out of energy.

Yelling insults helped a bit and made the blaze stronger, but bravado alone wasn't enough to keep his fire going.

A big black lycanthrope growled at him, golden eyes cold and hard. That one scared Leo. He'd burned it so badly that flesh had been seared away, leaving only bone. But as he'd watched, it had slowly healed.

"Yuck," Leo muttered, trying to keep his lunch down as the memory flashed involuntarily in his mind.

The fire was spluttering out and dying. Leo took a deep breath to steady himself. All he wanted to do was lie down and take a nap, but he had to stay standing.

_Focus_, he told himself. _Concentrate on the heat from the sun and channel it._

And it was working. He took the bright warmth from the sun and pushed it into his firewall.

Of course, whenever something was going right for Leo, it had to take a turn for the worse.

The sky grew cloudy and gray, and a chilling wind gusted over him. It was all he could do to keep from collapsing on the spot. The cold bit and tore at him, gnawed at his focus.

And the wind whistled merrily, blowing out his flames.

Leo wondered if Gaea had called in a favor from Uranus, the Titan of the sky. Or maybe she'd somehow convinced that crazy Aeolus to go ruin his life.

The fire flickered in its blazing dance. Flickered again. Once, twice.

And then it was gone, leaving nothing but a trace of smoke and burned grass as a reminder that it had once been there.

Leo sank to his knees. He had no weapon. He was done for.

The black lycanthrope bared its teeth in what could almost be taken as a smile. It tensed, about to spring, when—

"Oh, no you don't!"

The girl's cry pierced the waves of growls and roars.

_Hazel_. He allowed himself a moment of hope.

There was a huge grinding sound, and suddenly there was a hard rock wall in front of Leo. It was a dull rock, but he remembered Percy had mentioned something about that before. What was it? Right, their encounter with the _karpoi_.

"Schist!" Leo whooped gleefully, rising to his feet.

"Excuse me?"

He turned around to find none other than Nico diAngelo with one eyebrow raised.

"Long story," he said. "No time to explain."

"Where's Piper?" the son of Hades demanded.

"Why does that matter?"

"We need the seven. You guys have to go kill Gaea and then this whole nightmare'll be over!" He leveled his sword. "Come on, let's go. Hazel won't last forever."

"What?"

Leo looked on in amazement. Now he saw why they weren't being attacked. Hazel was gesturing grandly, and at her commanded pillars of rock sprung from the ground and catapulted monsters into the air. Long-buried metal flew from underground and whacked the enemies over the heads.

Nico made a choking sound that ended in a gurgle.

Leo whipped his head around just in time to see Nico collapse onto the ground in the fetal position. The son of the god of the Underworld was convulsing violently, groaning as blood frothed up from his lips…

He didn't understand. There was blood everywhere, but what..?

Leo didn't put the pieces together until he looked to his right to find the dracenae, holding a dripping trident, grinning with her snake tongue flicking out from between her fangs.

Nico gasped. "Go!" His breath was ragged and uneven, and that one syllable ended in the beginning of a death rattle.

And Leo raged. His vision turned red, and he wasn't aware that he had moved until he found himself tackling the snake woman and squeezing her neck with insanity.

Maybe she couldn't die, but she sure could choke out.

Leo knelt next to what was left of Nico.

"Nico, you'll be okay," he said desperately, not entirely control of his actions. "We can get ambrosia…"

Nico wheezed. His lips moved, but there was no sound.

Leo knew the words that he was trying to say. "Save your breath," he told him.

He knew there was no hope left for someone so close to death.

Nico's eyes were wide and desperate, and he locked his gaze with Leo's.

And then he was gone.

Leo heard Hazel's low moan, knew that she—being a daughter of Pluto—had somehow sensed her half-brother's departure.

A kind of steel injected itself into Leo. He straightened and faced the oncoming waves, all fatigue gone from his body.

The flames erupted once again.

Oh, he would make them _pay_.

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><p><strong>Does that count as a cliffhanger? I've always wanted to do one of those. :) <strong>

**Our first death: Nico diAngelo. Do I need to change the rating? **


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm back and… "I'm stronger, faster, smarter-" **

"**Chattier, blabbier, can't-shut-upier..? Now zip it!" **

**Ah, I love Total Drama World Tour. For those of you who have actually watched it, remember? It was in "Walk Like An Egyptian- Part 1." **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. As usual.**

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><p>Nico drifted through empty blackness. He knew he was dead.<p>

_I don't have a coin… hope Charon makes an exception for me_, he thought. He wondered vaguely if he would go to Elysium or Asphodel or Punishment. He didn't think he'd done anything bad enough to deserve Punishment, though.

Too bad Bianca had left… he was going to spend the rest of eternity all by himself.

_"Nico, wake up."_

A man's voice reached him through the void.

Nico was a bit scared. He didn't recognize the voice. It wasn't Thanatos, or Charon, or even his father.

_"Nico. Open your eyes, you're all right."_

He concentrated. No, he knew the voice.

"Chiron?" he mumbled.

Someone shook his shoulder roughly. "Come on. You're all right. Just open your eyes."

"No!" Nico pushed the person away. "Leave me alone, I'm dead."

Chiron's voice sighed exasperatedly. "Nico, if you can talk, you're not dead."

"Oh." He cracked his eyes open a bit. "I had the worst dream…"

"It wasn't a dream," Chiron informed him.

"What! So I _am_ dead?"

"How many times do I have to say it? You're alive."

"But you just said it wasn't a dream."

"Well, it was, but not exactly. You see, this is a training exercise. Lupa linked all your dreams together and created a doomsday scenario."

"Why?" Nico was getting a bit pissed off. "So I died for _fun? _Is this some kind of sick joke you guys made up?"

_We wanted to test how you would handle the situation. _The voice sounded in Nico's head.

Lupa.

The huge she-wolf flicked her tail. _Would you like to watch your friends? _

"I guess," Nico muttered. He had nothing to do, anyway. He sat down in the spot Lupa had indicated.

A shimmering image floated in the air before them, like a mirage. Except more solid-looking.

Nico looked into the mirage. He saw his body lying on the ground.

He shivered, and unconsciously his hand went to his stomach. Just moments ago, it seemed, he'd been stabbed and lay bleeding into the ground.

Leo screamed a lot of insulting things at the impending army. Hazel fought like an Amazon, tears streaming down her face.

_This is boring, _Lupa said. _What say we up the ante?_

"Hyperboreans?" Chiron suggested.

_Hyperboreans it is._

A blue giant materialized behind Hazel.

Nico had seen these things before. The giant took in a deep breath, puckered his lips like he was going to blow on a bowl of soup…

He knew what would happen next.

"HAZEL! RUN!"

* * *

><p>"<em>HAZEL! RUN!" <em>

The cry came from everywhere and nowhere at once. Hazel whipped her head around from side to side.

"Nico?"

Just as suddenly as it had come, the voice died away. Hazel stood, perplexed. She knew she hadn't imagined that. But Nico was dead, wasn't he?

Leo started to utter a warning. Something about a big blue guy?

A cold wind gusted at Hazel. She tried to run but couldn't…

And then the world fell away from her sights.

* * *

><p>Leo couldn't do anything to help Hazel as the giant froze her solid. Her golden eyes were stretched wide—in realization or fear, he couldn't tell.<p>

Then a glittering silver-blue frost crept over her, turning her into an ice statue.

"NO!" he yelled.

Exhaustion gnawed at his limbs and mind. His firewall (ha! Pun intended!) was dying slowly. Even the adrenaline from the last few moments' turn of events wasn't enough for him to maintain the flames.

"Help! Somebody! Anybody!" he called.

In pure desperation, he aimed a fireball at the sparkling Hazel.

The fireball burst on contact with the layer of ice that covered the daughter of Pluto.

"Oh, come on!" Leo whined. Since when did ice beat fire?

The flames were barely a foot high now. Leo struggled to find some fuel source. But he had no energy left at all.

"HELP!" he yelled in one last attempt. The flames flickered once, twice…

And went out.

* * *

><p>"Look, there's Leo!" Jason pointed.<p>

"Where's Hazel?" wondered Thalia. "Didn't we send her to give him backup while we tried to get over there?"

Reyna gasped. "She—she—giant!"

"What do you mean, giant? …Oh." Percy spotted the huge blue creature, walking towards them.

Annabeth swore. "Wh-why? Wasn't it bad enough before?"

"On the bright side," Frank interrupted, "it can't get much worse."

Percy groaned. "Why'd you say it? Every time someone says that in the movies, something gets worse."

"But seriously, what else can the universe do to ruin our lives?" Frank challenged.

"Um…" Percy tried to think.

* * *

><p>"Yes, what <em>can<em> we do to ruin their lives?" Chiron asked mischievously.

_Oh, I know_. Lupa curled her lip in a wolf-smile.

Nico knew he wasn't going to like what came next. "What now?"

"Octavian?" Chiron suggested.

_Octavian._

* * *

><p>The augur appeared out of nowhere, running frantically.<p>

"Praetors! Why aren't you with the rest of the Legion?" Octavian demanded.

"See, it can get worse," Percy told Frank triumphantly.

"Why aren't _you_ with the rest of the Legion?" Reyna returned coolly.

"Um, because… I, um…?"

"Lupa! Hurry up! Come up with a reason!" urged the centaur.

_You come up with a reason, old man_, Lupa growled. _I have to do everything._

Nico sighed. "Because he wants to make their lives harder. It's true, isn't it?"

Chiron shrugged. "Eh, why not?"

"Because I want to make your lives harder! HAH!" Octavian crowed.

Thalia stared at him. "The fuck is wrong with you?"

"In case you haven't noticed, _Octagon_, we're in the middle of a war here," Annabeth added. "So just stay out of our way."

Octavian drew his knife, his blue eyes alight. "I'll make you wish you hadn't crossed my path!"

"Actually, you crossed ours," pointed out Percy, even though he knew it wouldn't help anything.

"And we're already sorry that we ran into you. Seriously, you're _annoying_," Annabeth snapped. She shoved him. "So move it."

"That's not a good idea…" began Frank.

Octavian sneered and jabbed his knife at Annabeth, so fast that his movement was almost invisible.

His knife cut her left forearm. The daughter of Athena cried out in pain before glaring at him venomously.

"What's your problem?" she shouted. Without waiting for an answer, she slashed with her knife at his throat.

A cut seemed to appear on his neck then, a red grin that leered at them. Annabeth smashed him in the head with the hilt of her weapon, then kicked him for good measure.

Thalia smiled and stabbed him with her spear. Volts of electricity arced across the augur's emaciated body.

"What was that about?" Percy asked her. "He didn't stab _you._"  
>"No, but he looked like a very stab-able person." She grinned and slapped him.<p>

"What was that for?" Percy whined.

"You have a very slap-able face," she explained. "Duh."

"We have to get to Leo," Reyna cut in.

"On it," Jason answered, rising up as the winds carried him to the son of Hephaestus' aid.

Reyna sighed and started to sprint. Sometimes not being able to fly had its drawbacks.

* * *

><p><strong>You guys didn't seriously think that I'd kill Nico, did you? He's too awesome to kill, even in fanfiction.<strong>

** So. Now you know the secret behind this story. It's not real. ;) **

** Deaths in this chapter: Octavian. **

** For those of you fans of Octavian, I'm sorry. It's just that I had to use this line, my little brother thought it'd be funny. **


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm back!**

**Thanks for all your support on this story. Hope you like Chapter 4!**

**Disclaimer: No. Not yet. But maybe someday. :P**

* * *

><p>Leo was now beyond desperate. He'd been hanging on for only minutes, but it felt like hours.<p>

"If I end up dead, I'm going to kill somebody," he muttered, before pausing to think about that. That made no sense at all.

"HAH! TAKE THAT, WOLF!"

Yep. He was hallucinating now. Must be the exhaustion finally getting to him. Although that was one realistic hallucination; that really sounded like Jason's voice.

CRACK!

A giant bolt of lightning struck one of the monsters from above. It disintegrated into a pile of smoking ashes.

At least that one would take a while to reform. If that had really happened.

Leo fell to his knees, rubbing his eyes. His head hurt.

"AM I DEAD YET?" he yelled.

"Valdez," a girl's voice snapped. "Get up. We're getting you out of here."

Reyna. Or was it?

He opened his eyes to find the raven-haired praetor standing above him. "Are you real?"

"Wh—of course I'm real!"

He groaned. "That's what they all say."

She reached down and slapped him. It stung sharply.

"Okay, you're real." He got up and blinked. "Wait, so that means Jason's really here?"

She nodded. "Come on. He won't be able to hold out for long. Get up." She grabbed his arm and yanked him to his feet.

"Wait. Hazel," Leo said.

"What about Hazel?"

He pointed at the frozen statue that had been the daughter of Pluto only minutes before.

Reyna's jaw dropped. "Gods of Olympus, what happened? No, don't answer. Never mind. We have to get her out of here."

"Nico," he muttered. "We need to bring Nico's body back…" He spun around, disoriented. Hadn't the body been over there..?

"It's gone!"

"What's gone?"

"Nico's corpse."

"He's—dead?"

"Yeah."

Reyna cursed under her breath. "Just when we couldn't afford to lose anyone!"

"Dracenae got him… I tried…" his words stumbled over each other. It was getting hard to speak coherently.

She cursed again. "Don't you dare go into shock on me, Valdez!"

Shock? Leo remembered what that meant. Usually it was brought on by trauma. Well, he'd certainly experienced trauma.

"Jason!" she yelled. "I'm going to take Leo back! You get Hazel!"

"Where is she?"

"The ice statue! Hyperborean, I think!"

"What the—right. On it." Jason hesitated, looking down at all the monsters. How on _earth_ was he going to get Hazel in the middle of that mess?

* * *

><p>"I can't believe you froze Hazel," Nico complained to nobody in particular. Chiron and Lupa were pretty much ignoring him, eyes glued to the screen.<p>

"Hey, how come Octavian isn't here? He died, didn't he?"

Chiron sighed. "That was a fake. The real Octavian's still in the fight."

"What! How come I'm the only one who's died?"

Lupa flicked her ear irritably. _Patience. There will be others._

On screen, Reyna was half-dragging Leo through the hordes of monsters.

"You have to let me go back," he pleaded. "They'll never make it through that crowd."

"No. You must stay dead, or else they'll suspect something. We want it to feel as real as possible to them."

Nico winced, remembering the feel of that dracenae's trident as it pierced his stomach. It had been so _real_. So much pain, just for him to wake up and be told it was a bloody _dream_.

"I sure hope this is worth it," he muttered.

* * *

><p>To hell with strategy, Jason decided. He swooped down screaming in an attempt to startle the monsters, and grabbed Hazel.<p>

He wondered how he was going to hold on to her. Then he realized that his hands were stuck to the ice that covered her.

_Just as well_, he thought. The only drawback was that he couldn't fight with his hands.

A big, silver wolf snarled at him as he attempted to fly back up. Jason kicked wildly and managed to land a blow on its muzzle.

The wolf whimpered like a beaten dog.

"HAH! Yeah, take that!" Jason crowed.

The monsters closed in.

"Um… catch ya some other time!" he lifted off into the air and flew back to the other demigods.

* * *

><p>"Hazel! Oh gods, what happened?"<p>

The outburst came from Frank as Jason landed, a still-frozen Hazel stuck to his hands.

Jason shrugged as best as he could with an iced-over girl in his grip. "Hyperborean, I think."

"Aren't they usually peaceful?" Percy asked, throwing a glance at Thalia.

She shrugged. "Well… usually. Not always."

"How reassuring," the son of Poseidon muttered.

"You can let go of her now, Jason," Frank said.

"I can't."

"Why not?" Frank raised an eyebrow.

"You know how if you lick a frozen pole in winter, your tongue gets stuck?"

"Yeah…"

"My hands are stuck."

"Great. So how do we un-stick you?" Annabeth demanded.

"Warm water?" suggested Thalia.

Annabeth snorted. "I think we'll need a lot more than that to unfreeze Hyperborean breath."

"I could-," Frank began, but was cut off by Percy shaking his head vigorously.

"No, Frank. She wouldn't want that. And besides, doesn't _Hazel_ have the stick?"

The others exchanged quizzical glances. But no one could offer an explanation.

"Leo," Jason said. "Leo's the only one who could do it."

"But he's with Reyna _all the way out there_!" Thalia exclaimed.

"I can't fly over and help," Jason told them. "Not like this."

"And the rest of us are too slow," Percy mused. "So that means our only option is to wait."

"We can go get Piper while we're waiting," Annabeth suggested. "I'll go with Thalia. Percy, you're in charge."

"Yay!" the son of Poseidon clapped his hands and rolled his eyes.

Frank stifled a snicker.

"Why can't I be in charge?" whined Jason.

"'Cause you've got a frozen girl stuck to your hands and you're pretty much useless right now," Annabeth retorted. "Okay?"

"Fine…"

Thalia gave Annabeth a tense glance. "Um, we should probably leave now. Jason, where did you leave Piper?"

"Um, by the rest of the legion."

"Okay, she shouldn't be too hard to find," Annabeth said.

* * *

><p>Reyna gritted her teeth. <em>You've been in worse situations. You can get out of this<em>, she told herself.

Yeah, right. As though she'd ever been surrounded by un-killable monsters while dragging an utterly useless son of Hephaestus with her.

She wished she had Jason with her. Then she remembered she wasn't supposed to wish that.

Still, she could remember a thousand times they'd assumed that natural, effortless position, fighting back to back. In training. In war games. In actual war.

_"I got your back, Rey. Don't you ever worry."_

_ I wish you had my back right now, Jason. I've never needed you more_.

She muttered in Leo's ear, "Can you stand?"

In answer, he grunted and pulled himself upright. That was one weight off her shoulders—quite literally, too.

"Do you have any weapons?" Reyna demanded.

"No."

She sighed exasperatedly. "Here, use this." She pulled a spare _gladius_ that she kept with her from her belt and handed it to him.

"It's a sword?"

"Yes. Use it."

Leo weighed the weapon in his hands cautiously. "I… never really got any training. Mostly I just used a hammer and fire."

"Learn," she hissed. "Use the end and stab. And remember, it's double-edged, so it can cut on the back swing too. Conserve your energy."

"What energy?"

"This is no time for joking, Valdez!"

"I'm not joking."

Reyna considered this briefly. "Okay, lean against my back."

"What?"

"You heard me! Lean against my back for support."

His back pressed against hers. "Like this?"

"Yes. Now. We're going to fight. Keep shuffling backwards so that you're always leaning against me. I'm going to try to fight our way out of this."

"You're going to—damn. You are one _crazy_ girl." He laughed nervously. The whole situation was pretty much frightening him out of his mind, and his nerves were completely shot.

Reyna started edging forward, readying her Imperial gold dagger. Dracenae, empousai, lycanthropes, and all sorts of hideous creatures growled at her.

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered. She stabbed at one dracenae, drawing slimy green blood. The monster hissed and shrank away, but as Reyna watched the wound started closing up.

She allowed herself a desperate glance at the sky. No help from Jason was coming. They were on their own.

Well, if there was no other way, Reyna would fight. She knew killing and war and bloodshed. That was in her nature.

As she warily watched all the enemies, she felt herself slipping into her autopilot mode. Her rational thought was quickly being replaced by instinct.

She was a fighting machine.

_ Stab._

_ Slash._

_ Block._

_ Blood. Lots of it. _

_ Screams. Maybe hers, maybe Leo's, maybe the monsters._

_ Kill. Keep killing. _

_ Survive._

And suddenly they broke free of the crowd of monsters, and Leo was shaking her shoulder, yelling, "Enough! We're out! We're out!" before she snapped back into reality.

Reyna slowed her breathing, aware that she was panting like a wounded animal. "Did you get hurt?"

"A few nicks."

She looked herself over. No wounds, besides a few cuts and sore spots.

"We were lucky," she laughed breathlessly.

"Um… Maybe you should look in a mirror." Leo looked around. "Or not. Uh, you have a cut here…" he indicated a line from her temple to her chin.

Her hand went to her face, and came away bloody. It was funny, though. It didn't really hurt.

"Just a scratch," she said dismissively.

Leo eyed her disbelievingly. "If you say so…"

* * *

><p><strong>Next chapter: following Annabeth and Thalia as they try to get Piper.<strong>

**Also... how is Leo going to be able to unfreeze Hazel when he's low on battery? ;) **

**SPOILER ALERT: Percy sings. What's the most annoying song you guys can think of? **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5! Here we go! **

**Thanks to all those who reviewed, subscribed, and/or favorited. :) **

* * *

><p>"Okay, so he left Piper with the rest of the legion," Thalia muttered. "Could he have been a bit more specific?"<p>

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Come on. Just look for the big crowd of armed demigods and figure it out!"

Thalia sighed. "So, like, there?" she pointed to where a formation of screaming demigods was being slowly overwhelmed by the sheer masses of monsters.

The daughter of Athena glanced at her friend sideways. "Yeah, that should be it."

* * *

><p>"OH MY GODS! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?"<p>

The shout ripped itself from Jason's mouth before he could stop himself. He would've clamped his hands over his mouth if he could've, but he was still (unfortunately) stuck to Hazel.

Reyna frowned. "I look that bad?"

Leo gave her a look and said, "Yeah, you look pretty bad."

Her scowl deepened. She directed the conversation back to Jason.

"So, why are you still holding Hazel?"

Leo laughed and raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Can't take your hands off her, huh, Grace?"

"Leo, I swear, when I get unstuck… you won't have any trouble at all hitting those high notes when you sing!"

"I don't like singing."

"I heard you sing in the shower, bro."

"Creeper!"

Percy broke in. "As much as I love listening to you guys call each other names… just stop. Seriously."

Reyna allowed herself a slight smile. "When did you get mature?"

He chose not to answer that. "Leo, we need you to unfreeze Hazel."

Leo's mouth fell open. "What?"

"You have to," Frank said urgently. "At least try. Please."

Jason grinned. "Also, this way I can have my hands free." He glanced at Frank, and dropped his voice to a stage-whisper. "I don't think he likes me touching his girlfriend."

Frank turned bright red. "I can hear you, you know!"

"That's why it's called a _stage-whisper_. So that everyone can hear you."

"That's not my point—oh, whatever."

"Leo, can you do it?" pressed Percy.

He sighed. "Well, I can try." Leo's brow furrowed as he concentrated hard on Hazel. _Think warm. Think fire. Think flames._

Nothing happened. He collapsed to his knees. "Ugh. I'm dead. I can't do it."

Reyna tilted her head to the side, considering. "Leo, when is your fire strongest?"

"What?"

"When does it feel the most powerful? Are there any triggers?"

"Um…" he racked his brain. "I-I'm not sure."

Jason's eyes were distracted. He looked up at the sky, remembering. "Yeah, there are. When he gets excited or happy. Remember that time on the ice bridge?"

"Oh yeah, huh," Leo agreed. "Happy or excited. I started smoking."

"Wait, you smoke?" Percy asked.

"No. Smoking, as in, emitting smoke."

"Oh. That makes more sense."

Reyna huffed a breath. "Are you finished?"

"Yes. Yes, we are," Percy answered.

"So, Leo, if you were to get excited or happy right now, would you be able to defrost Hazel?" Reyna asked.

He hesitated a second before shaking his head, curly hair bouncing around. "I wish. That only works when I'm relatively full of energy."

"How did you manage while we were gone?" Jason inquired.

"I was desperate. And… angry," Leo said slowly.

"Great. So we make you desperate and pissed off," Frank said. "End of discussion. Now, how would we do that?"

* * *

><p>Piper McLean was alive. Thalia had to admit; she was impressed that the legion could do their job. Even though her little brother was a Roman, she still had to say: GREEKS FTW!<p>

"Protect the center!" ordered one of the centurions. The big one with the booming voice. Curly black hair. A permanently stained red smile. Dakota, was it?

"There," Thalia gasped to Annabeth. "They're defending her."

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "I guess they're not that stupid after all," she muttered reluctantly.

"Not all Romans are stupid."

"Just most," Annabeth agreed. "Not all."

Thalia drew an arrow, painfully aware that her ammunition was dwindling fast. Oh well. At least she had her knives. And Aegis.

Aegis! How could she have forgotten? Her hand moved to her wrist and hit… nothing.

"I don't have Aegis!" Thalia yelled in surprise.

Annabeth shot her a look. "But you always have Aegis with you! You'd never take it off!"

Thalia's shock was fading. It was replaced with confusion.

"You're right. I never take it off. So that means someone stole it without me noticing—highly unlikely, I might add—or… I'm going slightly crazy."

* * *

><p><em>She knows! <em>Lupa growled. _How was I supposed to know a little detail like that would lead her to think—_

Chiron frowned. "You're overreacting. She just thinks she's going a bit crazy."

"That's never a good thing," Nico muttered.

"Nico, be quiet and watch like a good boy."

"I AM A GOOD BOY!"

* * *

><p>Annabeth snapped, "Forget it. Let's keep moving."<p>

Thalia sighed and followed her longtime friend, strapping her bow back on her back. If they were going to fight at close range, her knives would be of much better use.

Annabeth stabbed and slashed like a lunatic. While the monsters were surprised, she kicked them or whacked them with the hilt of her dagger.

"Only a few more yards," Thalia told herself, letting her instincts go into overdrive. Fast as thought, her knives found their marks. "Just keep going. Don't stop. We're almost there."

They broke through to the demigods.

Annabeth shouted, "We need Piper McLean!"

"Here," Centurion Dakota bellowed. "We kept her safe for you. Thought you might need her."

"I don't need protecting," Piper objected somewhat sullenly.

Dakota rolled his eyes. "Don't need protecting? That's stupid. Have you seen how many of my friends have been maimed or killed today? They sacrificed their skins for yours! The least you could do is be grateful for it!"

"Thank you," Piper sighed wearily. If she'd wanted to, she could've charmspoken Dakota into not being offended, but she didn't dare waste any energy. She looked at Annabeth. "You guys need me?"

"Yeah," the daughter of Athena said. "The idea's that the chosen seven can end this whole mess before anyone else gets killed."

Thalia turned to Dakota. "Thank you for your help."

He shrugged. "It's my job. Do you guys need an escort?"

"No, that's okay," Thalia assured him.

The son of Bacchus looked at her with concern. "You guys be careful, all right? I don't want all this to be for nothing." He sighed. "When this mess is over, I'm retiring from the legion."

"Where will you go?" Thalia asked.

"College. Maybe get a job, settle down… get a counselor for my addiction problems…" He laughed. "Nothing big." He clapped her on the back. "Hey, you tell Jason we all stand behind him. The legion has its trust in him."

"I'll tell him."

"Good. I might not get the chance to tell him myself." Dakota's eyes were narrowed, focused on the oncoming monsters.

"We need to leave now," Annabeth said.

"Okay. Bye, Dakota. Nice meeting you!"

He nodded grimly. "I hope we all get out of this mess alive."

Annabeth, Thalia, and Piper started to hack their way back through the swarm. Thalia covered their backs; partially because it was a smart idea, and partially because she wanted to watch how the legion was faring.

As she watched, Dakota was tackled by two giant lycanthropes. One of them, a huge white one, ripped out his throat with one vicious tear.

Without a doubt, she knew that the centurion could not be saved.

* * *

><p>... ... ...<p>

* * *

><p>Dakota woke up screaming. "Get off me, you—"<p>

He stopped, seeing Nico di Angelo, Lupa, and Chiron nearby. "What the—where am I?"

"Congratulations," Nico sighed. "You died, just like me."

"This is the Underworld? Huh. I always figured it would have more, I don't know, flames and ghouls and whatnot."

"No, this isn't the Underworld," Chiron said distractedly, eyes glued to the scene before him. "Nico, would you explain…?"

The son of Pluto/Hades sighed again. "You see, that wasn't really real…"

* * *

><p>"I LOVE YOU! YOU LOVE ME! WE'RE A HAPPY FAMILY! WITH A GREAT BIG HUG AND A KISS FROM ME TO YOU, WON'T YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME TOO?" shouted Frank Zhang at the top of his lungs.<p>

Leo's teeth were gritted against the painful sound, as were everyone else's. Jason wished desperately that he could cover his ears. Percy had fallen to his knees on the ground in agony. Reyna was wincing, eyes tight.

"Try now," she urged Leo.

So he tried. He concentrated on his irritation and tried to convert it into heat. A weak little fireball burst into life and melted part of the ice around Hazel before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"Did that work?" Frank asked.

"No," he said. "Although I'm surprised the ice didn't shatter from your singing."

"Hey!"

Jason groaned. "What will it take for you to be able to melt it?"

Reyna suggested, "If I slap you, will that work?"

"No. That'll make me sad. Not angry."

"What song artist do you absolutely hate?" Percy asked. "Justin Bieber? Lady Gaga? Train?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jason said. "What's wrong with Train?"

"I don't like the singer's voice. It's too nasally."

"Says you! Train is awesome! He's the guy who sings 'Drops of Jupiter'!"

"Oh, well in that case… no. Still no."

"But 'Drops of Jupiter' is awesome."

"Justin Bieber's fine," Leo interrupted. "I don't get why people hate on him all the time."

"Wh-what is wrong with you?" spluttered Frank. "He sounds like a girl!"

"Lady Gaga's okay, a little annoying after a while, but still okay," Leo continued. "And I like Train."

"HA! IN YOUR FACE!" Jason shouted triumphantly.

Percy sighed.

"One Direction?" volunteered Reyna.

"Actually, most of their songs are okay. Hey, do you know what nandos are? I don't, because-"

"Is this relevant right now?"

"Um, sort of?"

"Sort of isn't good enough."

"But I really wanted to know!"

"I know a song that'll annoy the heck out of you," Percy said suddenly. He started singing. "I know a song that never really ends, this is the song that never really ends! I know a song that never really ends, this is the song that never really ends! I know a song that—"

After about five minutes of this, Jason was groaning loudly in agony, Reyna had had some sort of mild mental breakdown, Percy's throat was hurting (yet he was still singing!), Frank was shaking his head and praying for it to be over, and Leo was really, really, really annoyed.

"Please, Leo," Jason moaned. "Melt the ice so that Percy will shut up!"

Leo channeled all of his growing annoyance into fire. A flame roared to life, engulfing Hazel's ice statue completely for a moment.

"You'll burn her!" shouted Frank, leaping to his feet and starting to run.

The flame died out abruptly, leaving a shocked Jason and a confused, very wet Hazel.

"Why am I covered in cold water?"

* * *

><p>"<strong>Deaths" in this chapter: Dakota. A brave soldier to the very end. <strong>

**Hope that lived up to your expectations. **


	6. Chapter 6

**SEAOFWISDOM18: I blame you for the fact that Secondhand Serenade's "Fall For You" is stuck in my head. :P Seriously, it's been in my head for… a day already. Who knows how much longer it's going to stay. **

"**_Best thing about tonight's that we're not fighting… could it be that we have been this way before?"_**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

* * *

><p>Hazel shivered. Her teeth were chattering uncontrollably, even though Percy had used his son-of-Neptune powers to get rid of the icy water that she'd been dripping with.<p>

"You were frozen," explained Frank. "Hyperborean giant."

Her brow furrowed. "Something h-h-happened. B-before that."

Leo sighed. "I'm sorry, but Nico…"

"Nico! He—he died, didn't he?" she looked around from face to face. "He was killed b-by a dracenae. Tr-trident in the back."

No one denied it.

"S-so, it's true."

"You need to sit down and rest," Frank said gently. "Try to get warm again. We don't want you to get hypothermia."

She was shaking like a leaf, though whether it was from the remaining cold or the bad news, she couldn't tell. Hazel sat down abruptly. Her legs had stopped working right.

"Annabeth and Thalia are back," Reyna said. She pointed. "Looks like they got Piper."

Even with her efforts, she couldn't keep the sour note out of her voice when she spoke the name.

Jason frowned at her. He was rubbing his hands together, trying to get some feeling back into them. "Could you at least try to be nice?"

"I am."

"Try harder, then."

"Why don't you?"

Percy intervened. "Okay, enough! That's not important right now! Right now, we need to concentrate on defeating Gaea."

Reyna's glare relented a bit. Reluctantly, she nodded. "Fine."

"Jason?" Percy asked expectantly.

He sighed. "… Fine."

Annabeth, Thalia, and Piper arrived. "What'd I miss?" called the daughter of Aphrodite cheerily.

Jason smiled automatically. "You're lucky you weren't here. We had to listen to Percy and Frank _sing_."

"I can't believe I missed that," Annabeth laughed. "Percy hasn't sang in front of me ever since that one time."

"You laughed at me because my voice cracked!"

"Adolescence is funny."

Thalia was quiet. Her blue eyes were troubled. "Jason… I have a message for you from your friend."

"What?" The smile dropped from his face. He walked up to her. "From who?"

"Dakota. He said to tell you that the legion stands behind you, and that they have their trust in you."

"No pressure," Jason muttered to himself.

"Also… Dakota died."

"He… what?"

Thalia nodded. "I'm sorry. He got mauled by a giant wolf. There was nothing we could do."

Jason wanted to collapse to his knees, to give in to the weakness he felt, but he resisted. He stood straighter. "Gaea is _paying_ for this."

* * *

><p>"So, does anyone know where to find Gaea?" asked Leo.<p>

"Hmm… if I were an all-powerful earth goddess, where would I hide? Oh wait. I could be anywhere—and I wouldn't even need to hide because I'm ALL-POWERFUL. So gee, she could be anywhere," Frank ranted.

"Are you done?" Thalia inquired mildly.

"Yes. Yes, I am."

Hazel spoke up. "Underground."

"I hate underground…" mumbled Jason to himself. It had just suddenly flashed into his mind. Maybe it was Gaea messing with him; maybe it was an old fear he'd had that he'd only remembered now; either way, Jason knew that he definitely did not want to go underground to find a goddess whose power dealt with ground.

All eyes turned to the daughter of Pluto.

Hazel shrugged, uncomfortable with the attention. "Her influence was greatest underground. That's where she tried to make me raise her son."

"Right," Piper said. "And her other son… Porphyrion… he rose from _underneath the ground._"

Reyna shot a look at Jason nervously. She sent him a message with her eyebrows: _Are you okay if I say something?_

He raised his eyebrows. He didn't know what she was going to say.

"Um, Jason kind of has a slight claustrophobia," Reyna said. "Underground isn't really his thing."

So it wasn't Gaea trying to mess up the way he thought. He was just scared of closed-off spaces where you couldn't see the sky or sun and at any given moment could be buried by a cave-in and slowly suffocated by tons and tons of dirt and rocks and—

He shook his head to clear it. His throat had started to tighten at the image.

"Are you okay?" Piper asked. "You look kind of sick."

"I couldn't remember before," he croaked. "But… Reyna, was I always claustrophobic?"

"No," she admitted. "You had a really bad experience once on a quest… don't you remember?"

A few flashing images appeared in his mind. A collapsing cave ceiling. Dirt and pebbles raining down on him. The dirt rising; up to his chest… up to his neck… covering his mouth and nose…

He choked, fighting for breath. Then he remembered that he wasn't really underground, and that everyone was looking at him oddly.

"Let's not bring that up," Jason laughed shakily. "I… don't like the memory."

"You can sit this out if you want…" Piper offered.

"No," Annabeth said. "He can't. We need all of the seven to fight Gaea." She looked at him sympathetically. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to come with us."

_The legion stands behind you._ He stood up straighter. "I'll be fine."

"Underground it is, then," Percy said. "Hazel, would you be able to detect her?"

She shut her eyes, concentrating. "There's a system of caves and tunnels… Lots of them beneath us. And moving things. Monsters, I think. They're… moving out of the tunnels and up here to fight the legion."

"Sounds like the right place," Leo affirmed. "Anything on Gaea?"

"I… can't tell. The times I'd been in her presence… it just felt like a big gravitational field. No actual difference from the earth itself."

"We'll just have to take our chances," Percy said, looking around at the group. His eyes rested on Jason. "You okay with this?"

"I… yeah."

Piper flashed him a reassuring smile and squeezed his hand.

Reyna rolled her eyes. "He'll be fine."

* * *

><p>Hazel had just become the most valuable asset to their troop. Frank watched her proudly as she opened up a path into the ground.<p>

"This way," she called. "There aren't any monsters here."

With that, she hopped down into the hole, Frank on her tail. Percy and Annabeth followed. After them went Leo, Thalia, and Reyna.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Piper asked Jason worriedly.

"Yeah. Stop asking me… please. The more I think about it… the worse it is."

"I'll be behind you," she said. "This way I can make sure nothing sneaks up on you."

Jason frowned. "You don't need to protect me. I'm the guy. Shouldn't I be the knight in shining armor?"

"You can go and shine on all you want later. But for right now, I'm going to save you for a change." Piper smiled dazzlingly.

"Um… okay." Jason forced himself down into the hole, clenching his teeth. An onslaught of terrible images had begun to form in his head. He could only begin to imagine the horrible, gory ends that awaited them in the tunnels…

"Just keep walking," Piper coached. "Step by step."

Reyna's voice came from in front of them. "He doesn't need you to walk him along like a dog."

"I'm not walking him like a dog!"

Jason tensed. "Can you two please not argue right now?"

There was a heavy silence before Piper relented. "Sorry, Jason."

Reyna called out, "Leo, can you give us some light?"

"I'll try."

A dim amount of light appeared from up ahead.

"Walk towards the light," Piper murmured encouragingly. "That's it. Nothing to it. Just step by step, one foot after another."

"We're coming into a cavern," Hazel announced. Her voice echoed back to Jason and Piper. "I don't hear anything moving around in there. I think we're safe."

Safe? As though you could ever be _safe_ underground. Jason bit his lip. His thoughts were growing increasingly paranoid, so he made himself empty his mind.

_Follow the light. Follow the light. Follow the light… _

He bumped into Reyna. She snapped at him crossly. "Watch where you're going!"

Piper retorted, "You could be nicer to him, you know."

Jason was starting to get a headache. "I don't mind," he intervened. "If Reyna's acting normal, it's a bit easier for me to pretend that nothing's wrong."

"You don't have to be nice to her when she's acting like a jerk," Piper said.

Jason wanted to say something else, but the brief reprieve from his fear had ended. He started hyperventilating.

"Is he having a panic attack?" Percy's voice asked from a little ways ahead. "I can hear his breathing all the way from here."

Reyna turned around. In the dim lighting, she could just barely make out her friend. He definitely wasn't doing well.

"Think about other things," she commanded. "Think flying. Sky. Clouds. The wind blowing at you. You are high above the ground."

The words were having an effect. The son of Jupiter's breathing slowed. His muscles were still tensed, but at least he wasn't in a full-blown state of panic.

"Sky," he repeated. "Got it." He shut his eyes and tried to think of other images. He pulled memories from his mind. The first time he ever flew. The first time he ever flew with Reyna—how at first she'd been freaking out, screaming at him to put her down.

He smiled at the memory.

* * *

><p><em>"Jason Grace, you put me down right this instant!"<em>

_ "And if I don't?"_

_ "Then I'll—I'll…. I'll hurt you!"_

_ "Eh, you do that all the time. It's not really that big a deal."_

_ "Jason Grace!"_

* * *

><p>Chiron frowned. "Isn't this supposed to push them to their limits?"<p>

_Yes, _Lupa answered. _What's your point?_

"The boy isn't scared anymore. Look, he's smiling."

Dakota chuckled. "Looks like he found a way around his phobia."

Nico whined, "I'm bored. Make something exciting happen!"

Lupa was surprised. _I'd been under the impression that you thought we were being cruel and sadistic._

"You are, but the sooner this thing ends, the sooner we can go about our lives like normal again!"

Lupa's lip curled in a wolf grin. _Oh, I have just the thing to bring the fear back._

Chiron winced. "Oh, no. You wouldn't dare—"

_Oh, yes, I would._

* * *

><p>The nine demigods gathered around in a circle, illuminated only by Leo's flickering handful of flames.<p>

"Where to next?" Annabeth asked Hazel.

Her brow creased. "I… I'm not sure, exactly. There are a lot of tunnels here."

"So that begs one question," Frank said. "Do we split up, or go as a group?"

"Go as a group," Leo said immediately. "Splitting up is always a bad idea. Haven't you watched any horror movies?"

Thalia laughed. "He's right."

A slight tremor traveled through the cavern. Hazel's eyes widened.

"Cave-in!" she shouted just as part of the ceiling collapsed. Not a lot. Just a part.

The rocks dropped. Dust flew. The demigods scattered, running.

When the air cleared, Percy called, "Everyone all right? Annabeth?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Jason? Are you there?!" yelled Piper.

"He's right next to me. I grabbed him when the rocks started falling," Reyna answered.

"Hazel!" Frank's voice gasped. He coughed violently. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry."

"So that leaves Leo and Thalia," Percy said. "Guys? Are you there?"

Leo groaned. "Yeah, I'm alive. I got hit on the shoulder, though." He paused. "I… can't move my arm."

"Thalia?" Annabeth demanded. "Thalia?"

There was no response.

Jason moaned. "Oh, man. Is she—is she—"

"She could just be unconscious," Frank said hopefully. "Leo, we need some light!"

Leo sighed, but tried anyway. A spluttering flame burst into life, illuminating the cavern.

"I don't see anything," Piper murmured regretfully.

"Me neither," Percy admitted. "I think she got crushed by the rocks."

Jason struggled to get to his feet. Reyna pulled him back down. "I think you're going into shock, Grace. Just sit for a bit."

"No. She can't be dead. She was alive a minute ago."

That was true. Thalia Grace had been laughing at one of Leo's terrible jokes just a minute ago.

And now she was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Deaths in this chapter: Thalia.<strong>

**Lupa just upped the ante. They're down one fighter, Jason's in shock, and one of Leo's arms has been rendered useless. **

**Who will be the last one standing? ;) **


	7. Chapter 7

**Um… so here's Chapter 7. I hope it's better than the last one—did it seem kind of rushed? Well, this one is nice and long to make up for it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

* * *

><p>Thalia was scared. The last thing she remembered… the rocks falling… Hazel had shouted something… then absolute blackness.<p>

_But that makes no sense_, she thought. _I can only be killed in battle._

But then she wondered if the whole war counted as battle. Maybe her immortality didn't extend to that. Then again, she was kind of glad she hadn't had to continue living in a body that was crushed beyond repair for all eternity until someone had the mercy to stab her to death.

"Thalia… Thalia, wake up. Come on."

A voice invaded her consciousness. She didn't recognize the voice at first, but then… it clicked.

"Nico?"

"Yeah, it's me. Open your eyes."

Thalia had the absurd notion that if her eyes stayed closed, she wouldn't be in the Underworld with the recently killed. "I don't want to."

There was a booming laugh. "You're all right, Thalia. We're okay too."

"Dakota?" She was definitely dead. Leo had said that Nico was killed, and she had seen Dakota die with her own eyes.

"Yeah, it's me. Come on, you're not dead."

"Don't try to trick me."

Nico groaned in utter frustration. "THALIA GRACE! YOU ARE NOT DEAD! OPEN YOUR FLIPPING EYES AND YOU'LL SEE THAT EVERYTHING IS AS IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE!"

"Nobody yells at me when I've just been crushed to death by rocks!" Thalia snapped, eyes flying open reflexively.

She took in the scene before her. Dakota and Nico were trying to hide their smiles. Chiron and some gigantic wolf were watching TV.

No, not TV… it almost looked like an Iris-message, but different somehow.

Thalia Grace looked between Dakota and Nico. Back and forth, back and forth.

"Okay, what's going on here?" she demanded.

* * *

><p>Jason seemed to have lost the ability to speak. Or move. Or even think clearly.<p>

Part of it was the constant terror from being underground. But most of it was because his sister had just _died_ underground.

He wanted to cry, to start screaming, to do _something_, but he was frozen on his feet.

From far, far away, he could hear Reyna's voice—the razor edge gone from it, for once—telling him to sit down and _breathe_.

_"Jason, sit down. Just breathe."_

_ "He doesn't look good…" _It sounded like Piper's voice, but distorted somehow.

His legs failed him suddenly, and he started to fall. He would've cracked his head on the floor, except that someone caught him. Reyna, he figured. She was the nearest to him.

_Think of something else. Anything else. You are far, far away from here. You are back home, on the surface… and you are happy and safe and laughing._

* * *

><p>… …<p>

* * *

><p>"I still can't get the hang of it!" Twelve-year-old Jason complains.<p>

His friend Bobby rollshis eyes. "You're trying to learn how to _fly_, Jason. That was previously impossible for humankind. So what if you haven't mastered it yet? One impossible step at a time, bro. One impossible step at a time."

Jason closes his eyes and concentrates as hard as he can. He tries to will himself to go up.

He manages to go a foot or so into the air before he drops back to the ground.

"ARGH! WHY CAN'T I JUST DO THIS?" He stomps his foot on the ground.

"And this here is Jason Grace, our very own personal Superman, having a hissy fit," booms a familiar voice.

Jason groans inwardly. It's Dakota, using his tour guide voice. And that can only mean one thing: a new recruit.

"Hi," Jason says in a falsely bright tone, as he turns to look at the new recruit. Abruptly, he freezes in his tracks.

She's probably about his age, although the way her brow furrows makes her look older. Her hair is long and black and glossy, cascading a little more than halfway down her back.

"Your very own personal Superman?" she says. There's an intriguing kind of glint in her dark brown eyes. "And why do you call him that?"

Bobby grins widely. "He's faster than a speeding locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound—"

Dakota cuts him off. "Because Jason here just discovered how to fly."

For a moment, her eyebrows shoot up in the universal expression of surprise. Just as quickly, though, they go back to being intimidating. "Really now?"

"Show the nice young lady," the son of Bacchus quips with a smile.

Jason feels his face heating up. Those dark eyes are trained on him with all the intensity of a wolf looking at prey. And he'd been around enough of those to know.

But he tries again. Closes his eyes and concentrates on going upwards. Nowhere else… just soaring up into the sky like a bird…

He feels himself rising slowly and tries to hold on to the sensation. Keep going up. And up. And up.

Then he makes the mistake of opening his eyes. He's made it about fifteen feet up in the air before he plummets back down. Luckily, his combat training kicks in, and he lands on his feet. He makes sure to absorb the shock through his ankles and knees.

"Yeah, I haven't really gotten the hang of it yet…" he mutters sheepishly.

The girl's scowl is completely gone. Without the frown, she looks prettier. More like someone Jason would like to know.

"That's… pretty amazing," she says. Then, "Is there a trigger?"

"What do you mean, a trigger?"

"Usually for things like these, there are certain… feelings or sensations that help." She hesitates, looking around defensively, even though nobody's judging her. "I used to work with magic a lot. I found that certain emotions make certain kinds of magic stronger."

"Did you ever try anything related to wind or flying?" Bobby asks.

"No… but… using common sense, I'd think happiness or complete giddiness would help."

"Interesting," Dakota says. "Now, Reyna, let's move along." He ushers her away, beginning his tour guide speech again.

Reyna. So that's her name. He likes the sound of it; he whispers it to himself, tasting it on his tongue.

"Jason, I think you've got it!" Bobby crows excitedly.

"Huh?" Jason looks down and realizes he's hovering about a foot in the air.

"What were you thinking about? What's the trigger?" Bobby presses.

"Um… I was just thinking, that's one pretty cool girl," he says before starting to turn a bright pink for no apparent reason.

Bobby looks at him, faintly amused. "Yeah, I'll bet you think that."

_And what's that supposed to mean?_

* * *

><p>Percy exchanged a nervous glance with Annabeth. "Is he okay?"<p>

Jason Grace had gone completely rigid after Reyna had caught him. He now was propped up, stiff as a board, against the cave wall.

"He'll have to be," Annabeth snapped harshly. "Otherwise we're stuck here."

Percy would normally wonder why she was being so mean, but he knew the reason. Thalia had been an old friend of hers. And his, as well.

There weren't many people left in the world who he would call his friends. He glanced around at all of them, the people he'd fought beside and would die beside. They each wore solemn expressions.

Well, most of them. Piper was clearly distraught, trying to charmspeak him back. Nothing was working. Jason was just sitting there, eyes glazed over, staring straight ahead.

At first, Percy had thought he might be seeing something behind them, but then he realized that Jason wasn't really _there_. He was seeing something else, maybe from some other time, when things were better.

"He's either in shock or having a seizure," Frank had said. That was when Piper, assuming that it was a seizure (because to her, he was apparently superhuman and would never desert them for some emotional reason) had started trying to charmspeak.

"It worked before," she'd said, when Hazel had pointed out that children of Venus/Aphrodite had no healing powers. "If it worked then, it'll work now."

Finally, Reyna broke in. Her face was an emotionless mask. "He's in shock, McLean. Charmspeak won't help that."

Percy couldn't help noticing that in the flickering light that Leo produced, she looked so much older than the rest of them. Maybe it was the long cut she'd recently gotten, or maybe it was the shadows thrown across her face by the firelight. Either way, at the moment, Reyna could've passed for an ancient warrior who'd spent their life in battle.

"So what do you propose, then?" Piper challenged, her breath hitching as she swallowed tears. "Nectar? Ambrosia?"

"None of the above," Reyna said before slapping Jason across the face. "Praetor! We need you here. Your legion needs you."

Hazel remembered this from her legion training. If someone goes into shock or starts dying, keep them with you. Remind them constantly of their duty, of their rank, of their current situation.

Jason blinked and looked at Reyna dazedly, as though maybe he was dreaming and she was just part of the dream.

"I can't believe you just slapped him!" Piper screeched.

"Want me to slap you too?" Reyna retorted. She was back to her usual self—curt and full of fire. She turned back to Jason. "Jason Grace, don't you dare go into shock on me! We need you!" She lowered her voice so that no one could possibly hear but him. _"Mihi vobiscum_ _hic et nunc." _**(I need you here now.)**

He closed his eyes as his lips moved and formed a response. _"_Reyna_, est quia vos?" _**(Reyna, is that you?)**

_"Etiam. Expergescimini. Tibi opus est."_ **(Yes. Wake up. You are needed.)**

_ "Soror mea mortua est?" _**(My sister is dead?) **His voice came strong, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Reyna switched back to English. "I'm sorry."

Jason shook his head. "I was hoping it was a dream."

"It feels like a dream," Reyna murmured. "I wish it was."

Everyone was silent.

Reyna was suddenly painfully aware that everyone else was there. "Come on, we need to keep moving. It isn't safe here."

"It's not safe anywhere," he muttered. "We're underground. How can anyone ever be safe underground?"

Leo exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Jason. Man, good to have you back."

Jason got shakily to his feet. "That was embarrassing. I'm sorry."

Hazel said, "Considering all you've been through today? I'd say that wasn't that bad."

He winced. "How much time did I waste?"

"Um, maybe twenty minutes," Percy informed him. "Annabeth, how long was it?"

"I'd say fifteen or twenty."

"Yeah. There you go. So, not that long."

The son of Jupiter couldn't shake the feeling that they were being more understanding than he deserved. "Let's keep moving."

"Are you sure you're all right?" Piper asked.

"Yes. I'm fine." There was no hesitation in his voice. He was sure the fear would kick in again later, but at the moment he was driving himself forward with anger at Gaea and an extreme feeling of guilt. "Let's kick some earth goddess butt."

* * *

><p>Chiron broke the stunned silence in the room. "Lupa, I really wish you hadn't done that."<p>

_Have you gone soft?_

"No, but you just psychologically scarred Jason for life."

_He will get over it, _Lupa said dismissively.

"Dude," Thalia exclaimed, clearly pissed off. "You just killed me in front of him, and forced him into an environment where he's scared out of his mind altogether, and you're sure he'll get over it? None of us will get over it! I got to experience what it's like to _die_, for the gods' sakes!"

_Silence, girl. Chiron, control the child._

"Thalia, be quiet. We're trying to watch."

Thalia sulked.

Nico whispered, "Don't worry, the same thing happened to me."

"Want to compare deaths?" Dakota asked brightly, trying to change the gloomy atmosphere.

"Sure."

_Who next? _Lupa asked.

Chiron smiled slowly. "You want this to scare them out of their minds?"

_That was the point._

"Then I know who goes next."

* * *

><p>They'd been marching on for a few minutes before Hazel suddenly said, "There's something coming towards us."<p>

"How many?" Annabeth demanded, instantly on guard.

"I can't tell. They're behind us."

"How much longer?"

"I'd say we have maybe a minute."

"Let's run," Percy decided. "Put more distance between us and them."

It was worth a shot, but each of them knew that there was no way they could outrun whatever was coming.

An echoing snarl ricocheted through the tunnel.

None of them hesitated before breaking into a run.

"Wolves?" guessed Nico.

"I'm pretty sure. Wolves would be good in the environment. They can see well in the dark and are efficient killers," Thalia said.

"Which begs the question: who's the target?"

Reyna was the one who stopped them. "There's no point in running. We get tired. Whatever's chasing us won't."

"So what are you saying?" asked Frank, puzzled.

Annabeth caught on immediately. "So we stand our ground and fight."

"Not all of us, though," Percy said. "We'd be stuck here forever, because they can't die. And we'd get tired and eventually they'd slaughter us."

No one disagreed.

"So how many?" Hazel asked. "One? Two?"

"One." Frank nodded. "The seven need to go kill Gaea."

"So you're asking someone to basically commit suicide?" Piper asked.

Jason had gone white. "No, not just _someone._ Frank just said that the seven need to go kill Gaea."

"And I'm the only one not in the prophecy," Reyna said softly. "I'm number eight."

It took a moment for this to sink in before Percy grabbed her by the forearm.

"Don't." His voice was firm.

"I have to," she argued. "I'm not needed." There wasn't a trace of self-pity in her voice. It was true, though. For the prophecy to be fulfilled, Reyna wasn't needed.

"The legion needs you," Percy returned.

"You and Jason can be praetors. How do you think I got the position? Praetors can only be replaced if they die or retire."

"I don't want to be praetor," Jason choked in disgust. "Not if it's at the cost of my friend _dying._"

Annabeth snapped, "Just let her. She wants to."

"Why are you being so snappish?" Percy exploded.

"Why are you trying to convince her to stay?"

"Because it's right, and I'm sick of watching people die!"

"You won't be watching it!"

"Well, why are you being so snappish?"

"Because it's not easy for me either, and this is just wasting our time. We need to get ahead or else the monsters will eventually catch up." Annabeth shook her head. "I'm a daughter of Athena! I'm wise and practical. This is the best way."

Percy gave up. "Fine. Reyna, you… be careful."

"You too." The dark-haired girl's face betrayed no emotion.

"Good luck," Annabeth said, her tone softer. "May the gods be with you."

"You were a great praetor," Hazel murmured. "I'm sorry it has to be like this."

Frank was speechless at first, but then choked out, "You'll get Elysium. You were a hero. And a great leader."

The tiniest of smiles settled on her lips. "Go on. Hurry. Don't waste any time."

Piper wanted to say something, to not be petty, so she merely said, "Thanks."

The others turned to go, Piper included, but Jason grabbed Reyna's hand.

He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry that I don't have your back this time."

"No, but I've still got yours. Don't you worry." Reyna felt strange. That was usually Jason's line.

"I'm doing this all wrong, aren't I?" His voice was full of anguish. "We just sentenced you to death and I can't even find the right words to say."

"Go already, you're wasting time."

"No, I won't go. Not just yet." Jason seemed to decide something. All fear was gone from his sky blue eyes. "You're one of my best friends. Before anything else. And… I'm sorry everything got all screwed up."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I remember before… before this whole mess. I remember how I felt about you. And I feel like I'm being torn in two right now—I mean, I like Piper a lot too, but—"

"Jason Grace," Reyna cut in.

"Yeah?"

"You talk too much." She threw her arms around him. One last hug from the girl he'd once fallen in love with.

Reyna murmured in his ear, "Don't waste my sacrifice. That's the only thing I want. If you get out of here, and I don't… well, go and be happy with Piper. Don't forget me—that's not what I'm saying—but… I'll see you someday."

She released him and pushed him backwards. "Go. Catch up."

Jason turned and started to run, but looked back, his eyes sad.

"I'm sorry things had to go this way," was all he said before sprinting away.

Reyna was left by herself, wishing she'd kissed him while she'd had the chance, and calling herself an idiot for thinking like that.

She drew her dagger and stared down the tunnel. At least she would go down fighting.

* * *

><p><strong>That was… an overly emotional chapter. Well! Until next time!<strong>

**R&R! **


	8. Chapter 8

**When MOA came out, I wasn't sure you guys would still want to read this, since it's now officially AU.**

**But, I decided to continue it. Anyway, thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, and/or reviewed this. I love you guys. **

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC. I will place markers for the graphic parts if you don't want to read them… **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

* * *

><p>Jason knew he should be crying. He should be lost in grief for his sister and his friends. Heck, they all should be crying and paralyzed.<p>

But as he left Reyna to her certain doom, a change came over him. The pressing fear of his surroundings evaporated. The agony over Thalia's death had dulled to a muted throb in his chest. He felt like he'd been injected with steel; he felt as though he was ready to face any challenge.

They followed Hazel in silence for a few minutes, until Percy blurted out the question that was on all their minds.

"How long do you think she lasted?"

Jason hated the use of past tense. Percy was underestimating her. Reyna fought like a whirlwind and never gave up.

There was, after all, a reason why she'd earned the nickname Battle Angel.

Hazel answered from up ahead, "I think she's still fighting, actually."

"She's optimistic," Piper murmured, behind Jason.

"No, she's realistic…"

And then they heard the scream.

* * *

><p>Reyna wasn't sure what had happened to her. Usually, in situations like these, she was calm and collected.<p>

Something had changed, though. As she stood listening to the oncoming growls and snorts, she was electrified with fear. Terror set her heart pounding rapidly. Her hands were trembling uncontrollably. And one thought kept flashing through her mind.

_I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want…_

"Shut up," she said aloud. "Pull yourself together."

She could hear her own heartbeat thudding in her ears. No doubt, the monsters coming could too.

Reyna drew in a deep breath. "I've been in worse before," she tried to lie to herself.

But she knew the truth. She'd been in bad situations before, but never this bad.

She'd never volunteered for suicide before.

* * *

><p>Thalia was leaning forward excitedly. "So she's the next one to go?"<p>

Nico scowled. "How come she got to last this long? What, I'm the most expendable?"

"Yes," Dakota agreed brightly. "You _are _the most expendable."

Nico sputtered. "But—but… I'm the son of Hades! You're the son of, like, the wine dude. How is this fair?"

"Pfft. Wine? Kool-Aid's the way to go, man."

Thalia stared at the image. "Reyna looks completely terrified."

"Tough," grumped Nico.

Dakota gasped. "What? But Reyna's never scared!"

Thalia couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"Come on, Reyna!" she called out, like a football fan watching the Super Bowl broadcast. "You can do this! Everything's gonna be all right!"

* * *

><p>"<em>Everything's gonna be all right!" <em>

Reyna whirled around. She could've sworn she'd just heard Thalia Grace, cheering.

"Great, now I'm imagining things," she muttered.

In that second that she was distracted, two figures appeared around the corridor, growling.

Reyna heard them approach and forced herself to focus. She took in her soon-to-be murderers.

They were much smaller than she'd expected. Their forms were sleek. It was too dark for her to make out much more than that.

She concentrated for a moment, remembering a simple charm from Circe's island. A glowing orb appeared, pulsating light in the air.

Reyna gasped.

These weren't wolves.

The one on her left was golden, and the one on her right was silver. They each had ruby eyes that glowed coldly at her.

"Aurum! Argentum! You found me!" She laughed delightedly. Reyna had been wondering where they were ever since she'd first appeared in the battlefield.

The metal greyhounds bared their teeth and snarled at her.

Reyna knew something was horribly, horribly wrong. She let her guard down for an instant; she dropped to her knees to look into Argentum's eyes.

"Easy there," she murmured, layering her voice with a little bit of charmspeak. She'd learned the trick from Circe herself (children of Venus weren't the only ones with _that _power), but admittedly it was much weaker than Piper's. "Who did this to you? It's going to be all right, Argentum. It's going to be—"

Argentum, who had seemed lulled by the charmspeak at first, cut her off by turning and abruptly lunging for her throat.

Reyna jerked her head back, right into Aurum.

She brought her hand with the dagger up and stabbed Argentum, then feinted to the side to avoid Aurum.

Bad move. She was now backed against the dirt walls.

Argentum wasn't even fazed by the blow it had taken. There was merely a slight dent in the metal of its hide.

Reyna knew what was coming next. Her dagger wasn't strong enough to hurt them. They were killing machines.

* * *

><p><strong>(ALL RIGHT, HERE COMES THE NASTY PART)<strong>

* * *

><p>The dogs wasted no time. Fast as lightning, they lunged at her.<p>

Aurum's teeth bit into her dagger arm. She hissed in agony and dropped her Imperial gold weapon.

Reyna shut her eyes and was surprised to find tears trickling down her face.

Teeth ripped into her arms, her legs, her stomach. The metal fangs of the hounds shredded through skin and clothes alike with ease.

Reyna was screaming, louder than she'd ever thought possible to scream. The sound of her screech was giving her a headache, but she couldn't stop. She couldn't shut up.

She was a bloody mess now, and the dogs were eating her alive. Her body convulsed uncontrollably. Her throat was ripped raw from the screams.

Black spots swam in front of her. She was glad. In a few moments, it would all be gone… the agony would all be over…

_Except… I've failed. I was supposed to distract them. _

That was the last coherent thought she could form.

Argentum stopped tearing her open and bit her throat.

And everything went black.

* * *

><p><strong>(BAD PART OVER)<strong>

* * *

><p>"That… is seriously disgusting," Nico choked.<p>

Thalia was distraught. "Why hasn't she woken up yet?"

_Because I find this amusing_, came Lupa's response.

"How is this _amusing_?" demanded the lieutenant of Artemis. "You sick little—"

Dakota cut her off. "It's a bad idea to insult Lupa. In any case, I've seen worse."

"HOW COULD YOU HAVE SEEN WORSE?" Nico nearly shouted.

Chiron intervened. "Don't worry. The poor girl's suffering is almost at an end. She won't last long now." He turned back to the huge she-wolf. "Although I must admit, sending her own dogs to kill her was a bit over the top."

At that moment, a soft moan was heard.

Thalia rushed to the side of the semiconscious daughter of Bellona.

"Reyna, it's okay. You can open your eyes."

* * *

><p>"…<em>can open your eyes." <em>

Reyna heard the voice, but kept her eyes shut. That was the voice of Thalia Grace again. But Thalia was dead.

And so was she.

_"Reyna…" _

She half wanted to open her eyes, half didn't want to. She was almost afraid of what she might find.

And she felt so, so weak. There was no pain anymore, but she was drained. Lifeless.

Another groan escaped her lips.

"Open your eyes. You're fine."

Reyna mustered all of her strength and courage. She opened her eyes.

Thalia was kneeling beside her, smiling.

"Is this the Underworld?" Reyna whispered.

Someone laughed. Was that…?

"Dakota?" she inquired tentatively.

"Right on, praetor." A pause. "And no, we're all alive and well."

"I… I can't sit up." She wasn't being lazy; she honestly wasn't strong enough to even move herself into a sitting position.

Thalia helped her. The motion made Reyna feel sick to her stomach.

"What's wrong with her?" the voice of Nico diAngelo asked.

"I… don't know. Chiron, what's up with Reyna?"

"Mentally exhausted, that's all. She _did _have to go through a rather gruesome end."

"Mine was gruesome," Dakota huffed. "I got mauled by wolves."

"I got impaled on a trident," Nico added.

"And I got crushed to death by rocks," Thalia snapped. "But really, none of you got eaten alive."

Reyna managed a slight smile. "Now, now, children—let's not quibble over who died the most gruesomely."

"Well, if you can crack jokes, then you're all right," Dakota said.

"I'll be fine after a bit of rest," the daughter of Bellona said. Her voice was growing stronger with each word. "I already feel better."

"That's good," Nico said. "'Cause now that we're down to seven, I have a feeling the real fun's gonna start."

* * *

><p>Leo was sick of this whole mess. He was sick of people dying. He was sick of the constant terror. He was sick of Gaea, who was to blame for all of this.<p>

But he marched on, holding up his blazing right hand. His left arm had been rendered useless after the rock fall. Leo was pretty sure that something in his shoulder was busted up, but for now he wasn't in that much pain.

"Everyone holding up okay?" Hazel called from a little ways ahead. Leo detected the fake cheeriness in her tone.

"Yeah, we're fine back here," he called back. "Are we coming close?"

"I can feel something big up ahead. I think we're getting a lot closer."

Annabeth said, "If the tunnel starts to get steep or windy, give us a warning. We don't need anyone falling off some cliff or tripping in the dark down here."

"Leo, can you make things a bit brighter?" Piper asked.

"Hey, I'm doing the best that I can. You want to take a turn being the human flashlight, be my guest."

There was a pause. Leo knew he'd been kind of mean, but he was past caring at this point.

Percy broke the silence. "So, Lightning Boy, how are you holding up?"

"Great. I'm… great," Jason replied oh-so convincingly.

"Good. Glad to hear it," Percy said brightly.

Leo thought he heard a sigh. Probably Annabeth. He could just picture her rolling her eyes.

"Hazel, is there anything coming on our tail?" Leo heard Frank ask.

"No. Whatever was chasing us before isn't chasing us now."

"So… did Reyna win?" Percy asked tentatively.

Hazel sighed. "I… don't think so."

"She's gone? Are you sure?" Jason demanded.

Leo heard the crack in his voice and knew his friend was millimeters from breaking. Permanently, this time.

Hazel hesitated.

Leo ran forward to Hazel and whispered in her ear, _"Lie." _

And she did. "No, I don't think so," she said. "I think she's trying to catch up with us right now."

Percy asked, "Wait, I thought the monsters couldn't die. So how did Reyna—OW!"

Annabeth had probably hit him to shut him up. The daughter of Athena would know that they needed to keep Jason as sane and clear-headed as possible right now.

"Maybe she trapped them or something," Frank contributed. The guy had never been the best actor, but now he sounded pretty convincing. Maybe because he was voicing what he _wished _had happened, even though he knew better.

They all knew better, except for Jason himself. Leo guessed he was too far gone to see behind the little lies they'd all uttered.

Or maybe he wanted to believe. Maybe he _needed _to believe. Leo figured that when this whole thing was over—_if _they survived—Jason was going to need some serious therapy. Hopefully he wouldn't completely snap; Leo didn't want his best friend to end up a total loon.

Piper poured a little charmspeak in her voice. "Don't worry about Reyna. She always manages, doesn't she?"

"Yeah. Yeah, she does." The relief in Jason's voice was evident.

* * *

><p>"So what happens next?" Dakota inquired.<p>

_We make their little lies come true, of course. _There was an undertone of something the demigods couldn't place in Lupa's voice.

"You're going to send me back?" Reyna asked, alarmed.

_Of course not, child. We're going to use your voice, your image, to lead them astray. _

"And how are you going to do that?" challenged Nico.

* * *

><p>The sound of running footsteps behind them put Annabeth on edge. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Something wasn't quite right.<p>

"Hazel, what's behind us?" she asked.

There was a pause before the daughter of Pluto responded. "I'm not sure. It _feels_ like a person."

_"Annabeth! Jason! Percy!" _

The voice of the praetor of the Twelfth Legion echoed in the tunnel behind them.

"Reyna! REYNA!" Jason exclaimed.

He must have started to bolt for it, because then Piper ordered, "Don't run that way. You'll trip in the dark or something."

"I… I'll trip in the dark?" Evidently, Piper had used charmspeak, because Jason sounded dazed.

"No, don't trip in the dark," Piper commanded.

"Don't trip in the dark. Got it." With that, Jason started to run in the direction of Reyna's voice.

"STOP!" screamed Piper.

Jason stopped.

"Now turn around and go walk with Percy and Annabeth."

Annabeth deciphered this as _Go walk with Percy and Annabeth so that they can keep an eye on you and you don't go running off in dark tunnels. _

Jason approached Percy and Annabeth. "I'm supposed to walk with you," he stated flatly.

"That's wonderful," Percy snorted. "Why?"

Annabeth elbowed him and hissed, "We're supposed to keep an eye on him so he doesn't run off."

"Ohhhh…." Percy drawled. "Got it."

Jason was blinking rapidly and shaking his head like he had water in his ears. "Wait… why am I here? I thought I was walking with Piper."

"You were," Percy told him helpfully.

"So why am I…"

"Don't question it," Piper ordered, from behind them.

"What was I asking?" Jason looked extremely confused now. "Wait. I'm not supposed to question."

Annabeth turned around and told Piper, "I think your charmspeak's hurting more than helping right now."

"Right. Sorry." The daughter of Aphrodite grinned sheepishly. "I didn't mean to zombify him."

The footsteps were right behind them now. How had Reyna caught up so quickly?

Annabeth whirled around to see a breathless Reyna, doubled over panting.

"Reyna?" Percy turned also. "How did you…"

The raven-haired girl slowly drew herself upright. Her face was flushed and sweaty, but she was smiling.

A warning bell went off in Annabeth's head, but she ignored it. Mostly, she was just puzzled as to how Reyna had defeated whatever monster had been following them.

"Is everyone okay?" Reyna asked, her breathing still a bit ragged.

"Yeah, we're all fine," Piper answered, though her tone made it sound like she was asking a question.

"Good. That's good." Reyna's dark eyes flickered in the dim light. Something changed in her face; the angles of it grew sharper, and her grin turned cold and malicious.

Jason ran over and gave her a hug. "I'm so glad you made it. But you always manage. I should've known. I was so worr—"

Annabeth opened her mouth to shout a warning, but suddenly she couldn't move or speak or breathe.

Jason's body started twitching and convulsing like he was being tasered. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, and he went limp.

Annabeth could barely register that Riptide was in Percy's hand. He growled. "Reyna, what are you—"

"I'm sorry," the daughter of Bellona said icily. "But I'm not your lovely little Reyna."

Percy stiffened. "Wh—"

She raised her hand and pointed at him, and he abruptly collapsed on the floor.

Up ahead, Frank was shouting, "What's going on?"

Annabeth locked eyes with the girl in front of her.

"Annabeth Chase," the figure wearing Reyna's face said. Her voice had changed; it had grown deeper and more grating. It brought to mind the sound of sand being blown about in the wind. "You should have trusted your instincts."

She began to change. Her face turned pale, the color of white clay. Her purple praetor's cloak and Roman armor melted into black shimmering robes. Her eyes were closed, like someone sleepwalking.

"My dear, dear daughter. You cannot hide anything from your Mother. I am the Earth Mother. I see all. I know all."

Gaea's eyes opened, and in them Annabeth saw flashes of different colors. Greens and browns and blues and blacks, all swirled together to make one hue—and yet, at the same time, they were separate.

Annabeth felt herself falling. She was falling into endless blueness, falling up into the sky.

Then she was lost in the blue, and the last thought she could form was, _So this is what flying is like. _

Everything else was blue—not the black she'd been expecting, but beautiful shades of sapphire and cerulean and turquoise and azure and midnight that wrapped around her, trapped her, enveloped her, embraced her.

Somewhere in the distance, there was screaming. But Annabeth was happy and safe here in her world of blue.

* * *

><p><strong>Don't worry, Annabeth's not dead. She's just kind of hypnotized right now. XD<strong>

**Oh, I have a favor to ask. If you guys have spare time, or just want some kind of entertainment, you can go on a blog my friends and I are doing. Search "doodlydoodledot" and then add ".blogspot" after it. For some reason, I can't put a link. **

**I'm the contributor named "Kimone Akamu." If you can, read one of my posts and comment, "Hey, Rome!" so that I can tell if any Fanfictioners are reading. **

**Anyway, thanks! Reviews (or comments on my posts) remind me that you guys want to read my stories. I get really busy now—thanks, school—so I sometimes forget about my stories. **


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